Nanomedicine: Gene-fueled transporter causes breast cancer cells to self-destructScienceDaily Share Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have shown that they can deliver a gene directly into breast cancer cells causing them to self-destruct, using an innovative, minuscule gene transport system, according to research published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. Using a transport system called a Designer Biomimetic Vector, Dr. Helen McCarthy, from Queen's School of Pharmacy, funded by Breast Cancer Campaign,
packaged a gene into a nanoparticle 400 times smaller than the width of a human hair, allowing it to be delivered straight into breast cancer cells in the laboratory. The gene called iNOS is targeted specifically to breast cancer cells using the DBV where it forces the cells to produce poisonous nitric oxide, either killing the cells outright or making them more vulnerable to being destroyed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As this approach leaves normal healthy breast cells unaffected, this
would overcome many of the toxic side effects of current treatments.More

Imaging recommendations largely ignored in prostate cancerInternal Medicine News Share Costly and unnecessary imaging studies are being performed in men with low-risk and medium-risk prostate cancer, whereas a worrisome number of men with high-risk disease do not receive adequate imaging prior to treatment. An analysis of 30,183 patients found that 36 percent of men who were diagnosed with low-risk and 49 percent of those with intermediate-risk prostate cancer underwent at least one imaging study for staging. The
National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Urological Association recommend using CT, MRI and bone scan studies following the diagnosis of prostate cancer only in the setting of high-risk pathological features.More

Breast cancer decline stallsThe Washington Post Share The rate at which women are being diagnosed with breast cancer has stopped falling, according to a new analysis of federal data. The analysis of data collected by the National Cancer Institute found no significant change in the overall incidence rate for breast cancer among white women between 2003 and 2007, according to the report by researchers at the NCI and
the American Cancer Society released online by the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. That's after a sharp drop of 7 percent between 2002 and 2003.More

Oral sex now main cause of oral cancer: Who faces biggest risk?CBS News Share What's the leading cause of oral cancer? Smoking? Heavy drinking? Actually, it's oral sex. Scientists say that 64 percent of cancers of the oral cavity, head and neck in the U.S. are caused by human
papillomavirus, which is commonly spread via oral sex, NPR reported. The more oral sex you have — and the more oral sex partners you have — the greater the risk of developing these potentially deadly cancers. "An individual who has six or more lifetime partners — on whom they've performed oral sex — has an eightfold increase in risk compared to someone who has never performed oral sex," Ohio University's Dr. Maura Gillison said at a recent scientific meeting, according to
NPR.More

Montana court suspends order for woman to undergo hysterectomyAOL News Share Montana's highest court has halted an order for a woman with cancer to undergo a hysterectomy and will allow her lawyer to appeal a ruling that she is mentally
incompetent and is unable to make her own medical decisions. District Judge Karen Townsend ruled that the woman, referred to in court documents as L.K., is incompetent and ordered her to undergo the procedure March 3, according to the Missoulian. But the Montana Supreme Court delayed the order after the woman's attorney filed an emergency petition the day before the hysterectomy was to take place.More

Pancreatic cancer: Killer disease, shameful lack of
research dollarsSun Sentinel via Los Angeles Times Share Like so many in her predicament, with bodies ravaged by a killer disease they don't yet know they have, Donna
Spelman ignored the signs. The stomach cramps were symptoms of a broken heart, she thought, the stabbing pains of loss from burying her husband of 42 years mere months before. It was just after New Year's 2009 that Spelman finally sought emergency room treatment for the pain. The Naples, Fla., woman was dead three weeks later, the downward spiral having progressed at such breakneck speed, her doctors discovered what ailed her only after she was gone. Her pains were caused not by the hernia they
first diagnosed, or the gall bladder disease they began to suspect, or even the ovarian cancer that loomed as a worst-case scenario.More

Higher vitamin D intake could cut cancer riskHealthDay News via Bloomberg Businessweek Share A new study says it takes far more vitamin D than initially thought to dramatically cut the risk of several major diseases, including breast cancer. "We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4,000 to 8,000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases: breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1
diabetes," study co-author Dr. Cedric Garland, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California at San Diego, said in a university news release.More